We’re not quite there yet, but flash hard drives or SSDs (Solid State Drives) are getting more affordable. CNET reported yesterday that SanDisk’s 32 GB offering in a 2.5-inch form factor costs volume buyers (read: OEMs) around $350. Think back to when we first saw the Samsung Q1 SSD; the price of that device with a 32 GB flash drive was roughly double what the same device costs with a standard hard drive with higher capacity!
I’d expect that we won’t see price parity between current 2.5-inch hard drives and flash-based drives until mid-2008 or later, but the premium keeps getting reduced. What premium would you pay for a drive with no moving parts that can access data faster: 20%? 50%? None?
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